Mama Steve and his Daughter, Maxine
by Just looking at fanfictions
Summary: Steve Harrington was waiting for Maxine Mayfield to come out of school so he could take her home. Ever since 'The night of the deme-dogs', Steve had made it his responsibility to make Max spend the least amount of time with her asshole of a stepbrother. When Max comes that day, something seems off about her, and it's up to Steve to find out what. (Rated K for language)


Steve Harrington was waiting for Maxine Mayfield to come out of school so he could take her home. Ever since 'The night of the deme-dogs', Steve had made it his responsibility to make Max spend the least amount of time with her asshole of a stepbrother. Steve himself had healed considerably since the incident and the minute he could drive again he insisted on dropping Max off at school, as well as picking her up. Billy glared at Steve, but didn't make any arguments against it; He hated Max as much as he hated Steve, which was a lot.

Steve had been waiting for about an hour until he saw a certain red-head skating towards him, but something was… off. She wasn't skating in the way she usually does when she sees Steve in the car, with relief and happiness, but rather with a sense of weakness and debility. He frowned at this, but figured she just had a bad day. He sighed of relief when he saw she hadn't been hurt by Billy or anyone at school.

She opened the door and slumped in the passenger seat. Something was definitely wrong. Her naturally fair skin was paler than usual, allowing you to see her freckles better (not that you needed to), and her eyes were glassy. She also wasn't very talkative, which is unusual when she's in Steve's car. When she had a good day, she'd tell him with a big smile on her face, what they had learnt and what they did in the AV club. On a bad day, she would slump down in her seat and start complaining about other students, teachers, or even subjects. Steve was always a great listener. He would sit and occasionally cut in with some questions.

Today though, she just stared out the window, determinedly not looking at Steve. Steve, the proud mother he is, noticed these 'symptoms.'

"Hey, you good?" He asked her, trying to catch her gaze. She nodded stiffly. Steve tried to grab her hand, and it was freezing. She pulled away, glancing at him before resuming her staring out the window.

"Come on, you can tell me. Did Billy force you to come, or did you think you can walk it off?" He knew her too well. Max finally met his eyes, then looked down.

"Kinda both… At first, I thought it was a simple cold or something like that." Her voice was alarmingly soft. "When I told Billy about this, he told me that I was going whether I liked it or not."

Steve knew, that one day, he would kill Billy, but for now, Max was his priority. He sighed and put his hands back on the wheel.

"So, Mike's or yours?" He knew which one she would choose, and he also knew (courtesy of Dustin) that the boys and El were going to Mike's to play some D&D.

"Mike's. No way I'm going to mine." She retorted, sounding a bit more like her normal self. He grinned and started driving to Mike's.

The boys cheered when she came (Mike with a little less enthusiasm), because she didn't say she was going to come. Eleven smiled. She had definitely gotten along better with Max ever since Mike had assured her that she was the one he wanted, not Max. They weren't definite friends, but they had reached the point of having conversations in public.

Max didn't like the noise they made when she came, so she (very unlike her) hid behind Steve. Steve understood this and faced his children.

"Guys, could you maybe, possibly, shut up?!" He said, half-angrily, half-calmly. They looked from him to Max, then back to him. Max nodded stepping out from behind Steve. She muttered something about a headache.

"Holy shit, your voice." Said Dustin. Eleven was confused. Granted, Max was looking a little more run down than usual, but she was still Max, still standing.

"It's fine guys, no worry." Assured Max, awkwardly breaking the silence, rubbing the back of her neck. They weren't convinced, but didn't say anything else about the matter.

They went down into Mike's basement. The D&D was already ready. Max sat in-between Lucas and El, her being the only one who didn't understand it either. Steve sat on a chair near them, smiling at the scene.

It didn't take long for Max to fall asleep on Lucas' shoulder. He didn't notice until Mike pointed it out, and Lucas turned into a human tomato. Steve had been not really paying attention until Mike mentioned Max, and he looked towards them and grinned. Damn, if only he had fallen in love this young.

"Right, should you guys pause so I can get this girl to a sofa or bed of some kind?" He smiled at them. Lucas looked to afraid to shake his head, but the rest nodded. Lucas, instead, decided to put Max's head on his lap, since they were sitting on the floor. The rest all did their fair share of whispered taunting until Steve gave them a look and they continued with their game. It wasn't until three hours later they caught track of time and started to eat. Lucas didn't want to wake Max, but she had to eat. Steve watched him slowly figure out the best way to wake Max up, before shaking her.

"Wha…?" She muttered, and when she noticed where she was, she blushed up a storm and sat bolt upright. Lucas was blushing, looking apologetic, Steve had a knowing look in his eye, El looked oblivious, eating her Eggos, Mike had gone in the kitchen, but winked at Lucas on his way out, and Dustin mirrored Steve's look.

"We don't talk ab0ut this. Ever." She said, looking at each one of them with a glare. Her face was priceless. It was between annoyance, confusion and delight. Somehow. She looked over to see Lucas shrug, blushing madly. She yawned, and her eyes went back to being tired. She grabbed a snack that Mike was offering. Everyone sat in silence, Max sitting next to Lucas, minutes away from dozing off again.

After everyone had finished Max fell asleep on Lucas' lap. On purpose. She muttered just one thing before falling asleep, and that was:

"Don't get any ideas, it's just comfortable."

Lucas blushed, but then smiled and picked her up, and put her on the sofa.

"She's special to you, isn't she?" asked Steve suddenly. Lucas smiled, looking at the freckles etched across Max's face.

"Yes. Yes she is." He said, stroking her hair.

**That's it for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it ^^**

**(I had way too much fun making this I'm sorry-)**


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